sweeny



UNITED STATS ATENT FFI@ ARTHUR' YV. SIVENY, OF VASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND CHARLES TYLER, OF SAME PLACE.

HINGE.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 28,944, dated June 26, 1860.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR IV. SWEENY, of Washington, in the District of Columbia, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Self-Fastening Hinges for Blinds and Doors; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

In the manufacture of hinges, four things are especially important, namely, the strength of the hinge, the economy of metal convenience in manufacture application and use and elegance or neatness of appearance.

My improvement relates to blind hinges and the object of my invention is to make a hinge superior in these respects to any other now in use.

My invention consists of a peculiar arrangement of the latch and the cam or catch for self-fastening hinges for window blinds.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l, is a side view of my improved hinge when open. Fig. 2, is a view of the edge of the same when closed, showing the projection of the cam or catch.

The two main pieces of my hinge, A and D, are cast with the usual screw holes e, and connected by the usual hook and eye, as seen in Fig. 2, at F. Upon the piece A, is cast a cam or catch C, having a projecting lip, as seen in Fig. 2. This cam extends nearly through a semi-circle, and being cast solid with the piece A, strengthens the latter where said piece receives the greatest strain. The latch E, Fig. '1, is cast separately and then connected with piece D, by a rivet or screw S. In Fig. l, this latch is represented in black lines as fastening the hinge by locking or latching behind the catch C, and in red lines as up, leaving the blind free to swing.

The latch E is intended to fasten the blind or shutter open by locking the hinge. In shutting the blind, the latch E is raised 4 by the hand, as shown in red lines; then as the blind swings shut the latch rides upon the cam C. In opening the window-blind, the hinge locks itself.

The latch E is placed in a depression, or

countersunk in the piece D, yet it is so thick as to rise above the surface of piece D. Another depression B, is cast in piece A to receive the latch E, when the blind or hinge is shut, thus entirely inclosing the latch E and protecting it from the weather.

By allowing the latch E partially to sink into each plate A, and D, the latter may be cast very thin and not be materially weakened by the depressions for the latch. The lower part of plate D, upon which the strain mainly comes, is not weakened in the least by this arrangement of the latch; and the weakening of the piece A by the depression B, is more than compensated by the increase of metal in the cam, C, at the very point where the greatest strain comes upon this half of the hinge.

Hinges of the above construction are intended to permit the removal ofthe blind at pleasure, by separating the two parts of the hinge, one of these parts being attached to the blind and the other to the window-frame. Hinges of this class are most liable to break across the necks Gr, and H, connecting the hook and eye or socket to the parts containing the screw holes.

In my hinge the arrangement of the latch E, does not weaken the neck of the piece D, and the increase of metal by the cam C strengthens the neck H, thus more than compensating for the loss of metal by the depression B.

In some cases where a cam and slide have been employed the notch for the slide has been placed just where my cam unites with the flat part of piece A, thus weakening the hinge at neck H, and at the same time bringing the leverage strain to act co`njointly with the ordinary strain, thus greatly increasing the liability to break the hinge. But with my hinge the action of the latch E, tends to brace the piece D, by overlapping the latter and thus carrying the fulcrum of D (as a lever) farther from the center of the hinge and enabling the same to bear a greater strain without breaking.

I am aware that hinges have been made somewhat similar to mine, therefore I do not broadly claim the use of latches, catches or cams, but confine my claim to the peculiar arrangement of these above described and the consequent advantages of simplicity, catch being constructed and arranged subcheapness and strength. stantially in the manner and for the pur- Having thus fully described my invention, poses set forth, What I claim and desire to secure by Letters ARTHUR W. SWEENY. 5 Patent of the United States is: Witnesses:

The above described hinge as a new ar- EDM. F. BROWN,

ticle of manufacture, the cam, latch and DANIEL BREED. 

